Pakistan almost lost the match yesterday at least in spirit. But unlike Australia, they did some very good damage control and thanks to Afridi won the match by a comfortable margin.
When Ravi Shastri interviewed the Paki coach Geoff Lawson, he said their strategy was to keep Afridi towards the end who could then accelerate the scroring. Mr.Coach, you got it all wrong. If you had thought Afridi was just an accelerator, in yesterday's match he disproved it.
He is a mad mad hitter. Send him at the top of the order and you will see the difference. Imagine, if Afridi had made the same 22 in the first 2 overs, Paki score would have been some 37 at the end of 2 overs and Scottish bowlers would have been in a disarray and would have bowled defensively trying to save as many runs as possible. But since no batsmen from Pak took the initiative, they started aggressive and Paki batsmen could never really flex their muscles. Well, in after thought, it all looks so obvious. All said and done, Pakistan held its nerves and just did what was enough to beat the Scots.
On the other hand, Australia were in a daze. They never realised that the match was rapidly slipping out of their hands. I am sure the likes of Sunil Gavaskar will now have broad smiles on their faces. I somehow feel Australia has a really tough task against the English. England has very well groomed T20 players thanks to their county tournaments and would fight till the very last ball with Australia. We will have to wait and watch!
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